When the temperature drops, a lot of diesels suddenly aren’t so keen to fire up. Cold weather is hard on a diesel — the fuel’s colder, the battery’s weaker, and any injector wear or carbon that’s been hiding in the engine starts to show. The good news? The way your...
Being quoted around the $7000 mark for a new set of injectors on a Toyota V8 can be a rude shock for most people. In many situations it’s only 2 or 3 injectors causing all the trouble — when in actual fact, they don’t need replacing! In this case, the owner...
Why Brisbane Detailers Trust XTROLL Chassis Guard In the detailing industry, reputation is built over years — not overnight. The best detailers earn trust because their work speaks for itself. Customers come back because they know the job has been done properly, using products that actually perform long-term. That’s why experienced operators...
Dirty Unleaded Fuel Problems: Why 91, 95 & 98 Aren’t Always Clean Many drivers assume that filling up with unleaded fuel — whether it’s 91, 95, or 98 — at a busy service station guarantees clean, consistent fuel. But dirty unleaded fuel problems can still happen, even at major high-turnover sites. Recently, one...
Australia’s Dirty Fuel Problem (2026): What It Means for Your Engine Most people don’t think much about the quality of their fuel. You pull up, fill up, and drive away. But right now in Australia, there’s a growing issue that could be costing you more than you realise. Fuel quality has been temporarily...
Australia’s Dirty Fuel Problem: What Lower Fuel Standards Mean for Modern Engines How temporary fuel standard changes highlight the importance of combustion cleanliness, fuel quality, and soot control in modern engines. Recent news that Australia temporarily allowed slightly lower fuel-quality standards to ease fuel shortages and stabilise the domestic supply has raised...
Real-world lessons from the road High kilometre diesel maintenance isn’t about luck. It’s about consistency, monitoring, and preventing problems before they turn into downtime. Over the past 27 years, professional road pilot Paul Mason has travelled more than 2,000,000 kilometres across Australia in demanding conditions where reliability is non-negotiable. For the past 15...
Why Use a Fuel Additive in a New Common Rail Diesel? Using a fuel additive in a common rail diesel is one of the simplest ways to protect a modern engine. Cost Effective Maintenance is regularly asked by customers, “Why use CRD Fuel Enhancer in new, or low-kilometre common rail diesels?”...
Diesel Catch Can Comparison When it comes to protecting modern diesel engines, installing a quality catch can kit is one of the most effective preventative upgrades you can make. Two of the most popular and proven options available in Australia are the Western Filters Catch Can Kit and the Direction Plus...
PMX 145: How It Works to Protect Diesel and Biodiesel Tanks Microbial contamination is one of the most common — and most expensive — issues in diesel and biodiesel storage, and a quality fuel biocide like PMX 145 is the most reliable way to control it. If you’ve ever dealt with...
In Australian road transport, there’s something unreal about an older rig that still works hard every day. Modern trucks might be packed with tech, but a well-kept classic earns respect — especially when it’s hauling freight all week and turning heads at a drag event on the weekend. That’s exactly what...
XTROLL Chassis Guard – Your Complete Application & Care Guide If you love off-roading, beach trips, or coastal adventures, protecting your vehicle’s underbody is essential. XTROLL Chassis Guard forms a tough, self-healing clear coating that shields metal surfaces from rust caused by salt, sand, and moisture. Here’s how to get the...
In 2023, Cost Effective Maintenance relocated into a larger manufacturing warehouse to help with the surge in DPF-related enquiries. More and more fleet operators are searching for low-cost, low-downtime solutions to avoid the hassle and expense of replacing or manually cleaning diesel particulate filters (DPFs). DPF Cleaning Additive That’s Saving Drivers...
There is no shortage of off-the-shelf diesel fuel additives available these days, but what are you really putting in your tank? With so many products out there, it’s hard to know what, or why, you should be using them at all. Short answer: yes — diesel additives are worth it, if...
If your engine oil goes black quickly after an oil change, it’s time to ask why. Why is the new oil already dirty? If your new oil is already black, then the engine oil has already started to degrade. This is not a serious issue on its own, but over...
Family-owned and backed by over 20 years of experience, Tas Petroleum is now the official distributor of Cost Effective Maintenance products in Tasmania. As demand for high-quality aftermarket fuel and oil additives continues to grow, Cost Effective Maintenance has partnered with Tas Petroleum to bring premium fuel solutions and advanced additive...
Cost Effective Maintenance (CEM) has been helping operators run their vehicles and machinery more efficiently for the past 40 years, thanks to its range of locally produced high-performance lubricants and fuel additive chemicals. It was started by Brid Walker, whose career began in the research field, working with CSIRO. However, after...
Driving in Australian conditions can take its toll on vehicles. Whether it’s travelling out in the bush, exploring beaches, or just daily driving, the diverse terrains and environments pose unique challenges. One crucial aspect of vehicle maintenance is ensuring that your vehicle’s injectors are operating effectively, as poor injector performance...
What is FTC Decarbonizer? FTC Decarbonizer is a combustion enhancer that readily disperses through fuel to play a catalytic role during the combustion process. As scientifically accepted, some elements act as catalysts and help promote combustion. FTC Decarbonizer contains Ferrous Picrate, which produces Fe++ ions — proven to be one of...
Getting your 4WD prepared for beach driving doesn’t need to be a complicated process. For most 4WD owners, beach driving is an awesome experience — although for those who have never adventured onto our beautiful beaches, it can feel a little daunting. There are some pretty in-depth checklists available on how...
Chassis Guard is part of the Xtroll Rust Conqueror range and has outstanding rust prevention and rust-stopping properties. Once applied, the specifically designed formula will not only penetrate and encapsulate existing rust, but will also bond back to metal surfaces, creating an impervious barrier for the underside of your vehicle....
How to Check the Fuel Economy of Your Vehicle With a Fuel Calculator Has your fuel economy gradually declined? Are you no longer getting the travel distance you used to when your vehicle was new? Or maybe you just don’t know how economical your vehicle really is? Sometimes, relying on the dashboard...
Being quoted around the $7000 mark for a new set of injectors on a Toyota V8 can be a rude shock. In many cases, it’s only 2 or 3 injectors causing all the trouble — and in actual fact, they often don’t need replacing at all! The quote: around $7000 for...
Once a vehicle has been affected by flood waters, many people believe their only option is to write it off and start again. But if your vehicle was parked and not running when it was submerged, the damage may not be as bad — and the vehicle could well be...
How to Spot a Fake Provent 200 Filter When it comes time to replace your Provent 200 filter, be aware of the damage these non-genuine knock-off filters can cause. As you know, catch cans (or oil separators) are designed to filter fine oil droplets and crankcase fumes from entering the engine inlet...
What makes Cost Effective Maintenance’s diesel injector cleaner — CRD Fuel Enhancer — the best diesel injector cleaner in Australia? Laboratory testing combined with extensive field testing confirms outstanding results on diesel fuel injectors. Even vehicles showing signs of injector wear or out-of-spec readings have returned positive results while using CRD...
What to Do With a Badly Blocked DPF Filter If your driving is restricted to short trips, make sure it isn’t slowly blocking your DPF filter — and more importantly, here’s what you can do to ensure your DPF filter doesn’t start causing you problems. When a diesel vehicle is restricted to...
As a fleet operator or large diesel user, you’ll undoubtedly have an ongoing interest in keeping your operating costs under control. A quality bulk fuel treatment is one of the most effective ways to do it. At Cost Effective Maintenance, we can help by offering proven cost-reduction initiatives. Many bulk...
Use FTC Decarbonizer DPF Cleaner The easiest and most effective way to de-clog and maintain your DPF filter is to use a combustion catalyst called FTC Decarbonizer. This DPF cleaner has been used successfully in many 4WD, truck and bus engines where carbon and soot-related problems have started destroying engines. Why...
Owners of diesel-powered cars, utes and 4x4s that are mostly used for short trips are likely to see a dramatic increase in the need for DPF filter cleaning. Restricted driving and short trips are just two of the many reasons that DPF filters start to block and need cleaning. <a href="https://costeffective.com.au/product/ftc-decarbonizer/" ...
Like all new-vehicle dealers, Knight’s Toyota (Leongatha, VIC) service their customers’ vehicles — but these days, they do something a little different. After using CEM’s products to fix a stubborn Hilux D4D fuel injector problem, they saw a chance to improve their customers’ performance and driveability by building some of...
If you’re the owner of a Toyota with a Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), you’ve probably experienced first-hand some of the issues associated with the less-than-impressive DPF system. Cost Effective Maintenance has helped many Toyota Hilux owners with out-of-warranty vehicles rectify their DPF issues using FTC Decarbonizer — which fixes Toyota...
According to Brid Walker of Cost Effective Maintenance, “There’s a big window of opportunity to fix engine blow-by problems before serious engine wear occurs.” Most drivers can easily tell when things aren’t quite right — for example, when the engine is: Getting tired and down on power Starting to breathe heavily Using more...
One of the easiest things to do when you’re noticing signs of overheating is to look at the cooling system. Your radiator and cooling system play a very important role in keeping vehicle operating temperatures down — and so does knowing how to flush a radiator with RMI-25. Flushing out a...
Using the Ezypor measuring device is the easiest and safest way to accurately measure out the FTC Decarbonizer when refueling ... For years customers have been asking for a simple user friendly way to measure out the FTC .... Over the years we tried different bottles, measuring cylinders, measuring containers and...
Climate change, global warming, emissions targets, carbon credits, how to cut emissions faster... the list goes on and on. No matter which way you look at it the talk of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources are getting their fair share of media attention. According to today’s experts there is an...
If your diesel is hard to start in cold weather, it usually gets worse as engine deposits build up over time. Types of operation such as excessive idling, short run times, light work and city driving all contribute to deposit formation, which can result in poor cold starts. None of...
These days it’s quite common for people to recommend a catch can — and rightly so. Separating the oil from crankcase fumes is a great idea, as those fumes are responsible for a fair share of engine problems. But first, it’s important to understand a few things: why a catch...
So your car, truck, tractor or earthmover is getting tired, but you’d be stretching the finances to replace it with something newer? How do you make your vehicle last longer? Why not consider rejuvenating your existing machine by cleaning up and de-stressing the engine and driveline components — the Cost...
